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Zimbabwe government and opposition hold
talks

International Herald Tribune

By Michael Wines Published: June 18,
2007

JOHANNESBURG: Members of the Zimbabwean government and the
nation's political opposition have met in Pretoria for their first
face-to-face talks since South Africa was asked in March to mediate between
the two sides.

Both sides have agreed not to reveal details of the talks,
which are aimed at establishing rules for the presidential election in
Zimbabwe, scheduled for March. But one person knowledgeable about the
negotiations, which were held this weekend, said that the meeting was a
preliminary session, held to set the agenda for further talks.

That
person, who refused to be named because of the sensitivity of the talks,
said that there was some evidence of progress at the meeting.

Efforts to
make peace between the government and the opposition have been virtually
stalled since President Robert Mugabe committed to the talks under pressure
from southern Africa political leaders at a regional meeting in
March.

Leaders of the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change,
had gone to Pretoria to begin the talks several weeks ago, but government
negotiators did not show up. Last week, the Zimbabwean police confiscated
the passport of one of the opposition leaders, Arthur Mutambara, who heads a
breakaway faction of the Movement for Democratic Change.

Critics
of Mugabe's 27-year rule have been under steady assault by the police and
government vigilantes since January, and hundreds of civic leaders, human
rights advocates and members of the Movement for Democratic Change have been
beaten, abducted or arrested in recent months.In recent days, however,
Mugabe has seemed to soften his stance. Last week, the government-run daily
newspaper The Herald reported that Mugabe had distributed tractors and plows
to a clutch of political leaders, including opposition politicians, stating
that "there must be occasions when we must be together."

"After all,
we eat together," he added.

The gesture was unusual for Mugabe, who calls
his political opponents tools of Britain and the United States and has
openly threatened them with beatings.

Opposition leaders dismissed
the remarks as political theater. But Zimbabwe's rulers have come under
growing pressure to change their governing style following a disastrous
April harvest, which foretells widespread hunger in a few months, and
uncontrolled inflation.

Newspapers in Zimbabwe, citing leaked government
documents, reported this week that the annual inflation rate leaped to 4,530
percent in May, up from 3,713 percent in April. Many economists say that
those figures do not reflect the true inflation rate, which they say is far
higher.

The government also appears to be in growing peril from internal
dissent. The Herald reported this week that six men, including officials of
the military and the police, had been charged with treason in connection
with an alleged plot to oust Mugabe and replace him with the government's
housing minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa, who has denied any
connection with the supposed plot, once hoped to succeed Mugabe, who is 83,
but has fallen out of favor among Mugabe's backers. It is impossible to tell
whether the reported coup plot was genuine or was made public for other
reasons.

But beyond that, the Movement for Democratic Change is split
into two bitterly opposed factions, at war over ideology, power and
prestige. Each has called the other a tool of Mugabe's spy service, the
Central Intelligence Organization, and each has accused the other of
betraying the party's democratic ideals.

Now, with a crucial national
election looming, the question is whether the two factions can reform their
tactics and patch up their differences long enough to mount a serious
challenge to Mugabe.

Call for Mugabe to shelve 'ill-thought' bugging
Bill

Zimbabwe's main labour body on Monday urged President
Robert Mugabe not to sign into law a controversial Bill to bug telephones
and monitor emails.

Last week Zimbabwe's upper and lower
houses of Parliament, both heavily dominated by Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF
party, passed the Interception of Communications Bill to the anger of local
rights groups.

The Bill allows authorities to spy on letters,
phones and emails.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper,
which closely reflects government thinking, on Monday said the law had been
crafted to "net rogue elements [who] were deliberately communicating
lies".

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
and other critics fear it will be used to clamp down on Mugabe's opponents
and independent journalists ahead of next year's crucial presidential and
parliamentary polls.

Wellington Chibebe, the secretary
general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said the Bill
reflected growing paranoia within Mugabe's government.

"The government has taken it upon itself to stifle whatever little freedom
the Zimbabwean citizens have," he said in a statement.

"If
President Mugabe has any decency left in him he will not put his signature
to this ill-thought and ill-timed Bill."

The 83-year-old
president has to personally sign all Bills before they become law here. In
2005 he did not sign into law a Bill that would have outlawed many rights
groups. He never publicly explained why.

There is growing
restlessness within once-prosperous Zimbabwe, where an unprecedented
economic crisis has pushed millions of Zimbabweans into
poverty.

Chibebe said that the fact that the Interception of
Communications Bill forced internet service providers to buy the software
needed to spy on customers' communications meant that some small internet
service providers would be knocked out of business. -- Sapa-dpa

Zimbabwe
broke land deal

New Zimbabwe

WHITE commercial farmers were driven
out of their farms in a violent land grabLast updated: 06/18/2007
20:38:43IN
RECENT weeks there have been comments in the media and remarks made about the
UK's government's role with regard to land reform in Zimbabwe, something which
the country's leader, Robert Mugabe has consistently argued is at the heart of
his country's internal crisis and the cause of his external dispute between
Zimbabwe and the UK.

It has been said that there
is an artificial amnesia about the issue and that there were broken promises
made by colonial powers. I would contend that as it is nearly 28 years since
that historical agreement was signed at Lancaster House, many have perhaps
forgotten what was agreed there and the fact that the British government has
since then remained committed to supporting effective and well-managed land
reform in Zimbabwe.

In 1979, the Lancaster House
Agreement ended the illegal Rhodesian regime. The Zimbabwe-Rhodesia regime, the
Patriotic Front, led by Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, both liberation leaders
to whom proper credit is due, and the British government were all represented at
the talks and signed the final agreement. Land reform was discussed and the UK's
position was set out by the conference chairman, Lord Carrington, a
distinguished former Foreign Secretary of the UK.

The independence
constitution, agreed at Lancaster House, entrenched protection for property
rights for the first 10 years of independence. The Zimbabwean government's
acquisition of land was limited to the willing buyer-willing seller principle.
Thereafter, the Zimbabwean parliament would be able to alter the constitution in
accordance with its own legislation.

No provision was made in the
Lancaster House Agreement for a specific fund to support land reform. But a
Zimbabwe Donors Conference in March 1981 raised £17-million (about R240-million)
for development in Zimbabwe, including land reform. Between 1980 and 1985, the
UK provided £47-million for land reform: £20-million as a specific Land
Resettlement Grant and £27-million in the form of budgetary support to help the
Zimbabwean government's own contribution to the programme.

By 1988, the Land Settlement
Grant had been largely spent. The then UK Overseas Development Agency fully
endorsed the resettlement, which had taken place and suggested measures for
further improving the UK-funded programme. The Zimbabwean government did not
respond to these proposals and the grant was closed in 1996 with £3-million
unspent.

In 1998, the Zimbabwean
government hosted a land conference in Harare, involving international donors
and multilateral institutions. Both the UK and Zimbabwean governments endorsed
the fundamental principles agreed at the conference: transparency, respect for
the rule of law, poverty reduction, affordability and consistency with
Zimbabwe's wider economic interests. Sadly, the two-year inception phase agreed
at the conference was interrupted by farm occupations and violence in the run-up
to the 2000 Parliamentary elections.

In late 2000, the UN
Development Programme (UNDP) administrator proposed to the Zimbabwe government a
slowing down of the programme to fit Zimbabwe's implementation capacity; the
promotion of internal dialogue; and the possible resumption of UNDP technical
assistance.

In 2001, a group of
Commonwealth foreign ministers (including the UK and Zimbabwe) met in Abuja,
Nigeria. They agreed that land reform had to be implemented in a fair, just and
sustainable manner, in the interest of all the people of Zimbabwe. The
Zimbabwean government agreed to prevent further occupation of farm lands, to
restore the rule of law, to take firm action against violence intimidation and
honour freedom of expression. At that meeting the UK re-affirmed its commitment
to a significant financial contribution to such a land reform programme and gave
an undertaking to encourage other international donors to do the
same.

But in 2001, the
Zimbabwean government amended the Land Acquisition Act to allow it to allocate
land without giving the owners the right to contest the seizures. This was in
direct contravention of the Abuja Agreement.

The UK remains a strong
advocate of land reform and has since 1980 provided £44-million for land reform
and £500-million in bilateral support for development in Zimbabwe, more than any
other donor.

The UK has honoured its
commitments, from Lancaster House onwards, and remains willing to contribute to
an equitable land reform programme.

The fact of the matter is
that the Zimbabwean government has not adhered to the principles of land reform,
to which it has repeatedly agreed from 1980 onwards and its own laws have been
arbitrarily overridden. The result has been that the process of redistribution
was characterised by the tragic scenes we have seen played out on our television
screens and the collapse of the agricultural economy.

Contemporary Britain is not
blind to the injustices of the past and wishes to be part of a process that
heals and binds people together, promoting the broad ownership and
redistribution of land in a way which meets the needs of the poor and creates an
efficient agricultural economy. Land reform in Zimbabwe is therefore central to
a wider programme of reform, recovery and renewal of the institutions of that
country. The decisions surrounding that and the form and nature of its
government are not matters which can be decided in Britain. The principle of
African solutions for African problems applies in Zimbabwe as it does elsewhere
on the continent.

The SADC and the AU now own
and have established the principles of good governance in this continent and it
is enough that they are adhered to. The good news is that this is now happening
all over Africa. Why should it not happen in Zimbabwe too? President Thabo
Mbeki, as he carries out his SADC mandate, can count on Britain to work with its
partners and all people of goodwill within every section of Zimbabwean society
regardless of race, creed or party political affiliation to bring about the
speedy recovery of that beautiful country in a way that honours the spirit and
letter of the Lancaster House Agreement and respects the vision and foresight of
its signatories.

Boateng is the British
ambassador to South Africa. This article was originally published in the Star
newspaper

US envoy says Mugabe to fall in next few
months

Zim Online

Tuesday 19 June 2007

By Nqobizitha
Khumalo

BULAWAYO - Outgoing United States ambassador to Zimbabwe
Christopher Dell on Monday said President Robert Mugabe's embattled
government would collapse in the coming few months, its demise hastened by
an economy in free-fall.

Dell, an outspoken critic of Mugabe's
administration, said no government throughout history had ever survived an
economic crisis of the magnitude Zimbabwe was facing, with inflation nearing
seven figure digits and the formal economy barely functioning.

He
said: "The first phase of Zimbabwe's liberation from (Mugabe's controversial
rule) is coming to an end as the economy is collapsing around us and the
second phase to define the future of Zimbabwe past a few old men is coming
in the next few months.

"The acceleration of economic collapse signifies
an end game for President Mugabe and the country."

Inflation, which
is the highest in the world, is the most visible sign of Zimbabwe's deep
recession that has left more than 80 percent of the labour force without
jobs and spawned severe shortages of food, fuel, hard cash and just about
every basic survival commodity.

The government's Central Statistical
Office (CSO) that normally announces new inflation figures by the tenth of
every month has this time round remained mum on new inflation
data.

But figures made available to ZimOnline last week by senior CSO
personnel showed inflation had accelerated to 4 530 percent in May from 3
713.9 percent in April on an annual basis.

According to Dell, even
these extraordinarily high figures supplied by the CSO were a gross
understatement of the levels of inflation in Zimbabwe.

The US diplomat
said independent analysis showed inflation was at 3 000 percent in February
and that it doubled to 6 000 in March, 12 000 in April and was currently
pegged at 20 000 percent.

"By year end the inflation rate will be at 1. 5
million percent," said Dell, who did not say where the independent analysts
who supplied his figures or how they calculated the rate of
inflation.

Dell, who blames Zimbabwe's crisis on misrule by Mugabe,
admitted that the veteran leader played a key historical role in the
anti-colonial struggle. However, he said Mugabe had overstayed in power and
his policies in recent years were eroding what would otherwise have been an
entirely proud legacy.

"Mugabe did not see his expiry date . . . he is a
man who played a largely historical role from independence through the first
quarter of a century, its a legacy someone should have been proud of but he
overstayed and is now presiding over a discredited regime," Dell
said.

Mugabe's spokesman George Charamba was not immediately available to
respond to the criticism by Dell, who leaves Zimbabwe at the end of the
month for a new posting in Afghanistan.

Mugabe - now 83 and seeking
another five-year term in 2008, which will take his reign in the southern
African country to more than three decades - has in the past denied ruining
Zimbabwe's economy and has instead claimed he is being sabotaged by the West
over his seizure of white-owned land for redistribution to landless blacks.
- ZimOnline

Zim ranked among 10 states at great risk of violent
conflict

Zim Online

Tuesday 19 June 2007

By
Nqobizitha Khumalo

BULAWAYO - Zimbabwe was ranked among 10 states in the
world at most risk of violent internal conflict and upheaval in a survey by
the United States (US) Foreign Policy magazine and the US Fund for
Peace.

The survey whose results were released last week placed Zimbabwe -
facing economic collapse, hyperinflation and acute food shortages - fourth
on the list of states at risk of failure, only behind the strife-torn Arab
republics of Iraq, Sudan and Somalia.

Analysts for the Foreign Policy
magazine and the Fund for Peace, which is a non-profit organization
dedicated to conflict resolution, assessed 177 countries across the world
and rated them based on 12 social, economic, political and military
indicators.

The indicators cover a wide range of elements associated with
state failure such as extensive corruption and criminal behavior,
large-scale involuntary dislocation of the population, sharp economic
decline, group-based inequality, institutionalised persecution or
discrimination, brain drain and environmental decay.

Zimbabwe has not
experienced civil war but the country has faced political violence and gross
human rights abuses since 1999 when the main opposition Movement for
Democratic Change party emerged as the first real threat to President Robert
Mugabe's decades long hold on power.

The southern African country has
also witnessed an unprecedented economic meltdown after Mugabe's farm
seizures destabilised the mainstay agricultural sector. The economy, once of
the most vibrant in Africa, has contracted by a third since 2000 when the
government began confiscating white commercial farms to give to landless
blacks.

The survey ranked Sudan as the most vulnerable state due to the
raging crisis in its Darfur region. Iraq is second, while the four African
states of Chad, Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea also
made it into the top 10 of failed states.

A key feature noted in the
failed states annual report was that three of the worst performing states,
Chad, Sudan and Zimbabwe had leaders who have been in power for more than 15
years.

Mugabe, 83, has ruled Zimbabwe since its 1980 independence from
Britain and is seeking another five-year term in 2008, which will take his
reign to more than three decades.

The report warns that failed states
are not just a danger to themselves but to other countries noting how
turmoil in Sudan, an oil producing country, as having effect on other
countries in the world.

"You just cannot turn your eyes away from mass
atrocities, which often accompany failing states," said Fund for Peace
president Pauline Baker.

There have been fears that Zimbabwe's crisis,
already blighting the image of the southern African region as an investment
destination, could destabilise the entire region were the country, tucked at
the heart of the Southern African Development Community, totally collapsed
into violence and anarchy. - ZimOnline

MDC official set free

HARARE - Police on Monday
finally released an opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official
who was arrested last Friday two days after a High Court judge ordered his
immediate release.

Nicholas Nqabutho Dube, an MDC information officer
based in Johannesburg, was arrested on Friday after the police found him in
possession of a passport belonging to MDC leader Arthur
Mutambara.

Dube had been sent by Mutambara to facilitate the issuance of
a visa in the passport at the British high commission in
Harare.

Dube's lawyer, Harrison Nkomo, confirmed that his client had been
set free adding that the Attorney General's office had refused to prosecute
his client. Nkomo also said Mutambara's passport had also been
released.

"He has been released without charge. The police had sought to
charge Dube under section 36 (f) of the Immigration Act which punishes the
unlawful possession of someone else's travel document.

"The AG's
office refused to charge him saying Dube was not in unlawful possession of
Mutambara's passport as he was authorized to carry it," said
Nkomo.

The police last Saturday defied a High Court ruling by Justice
Felistas Chitakunye ordering them to release Dube as well as Mutambara's
passport. Mutambara was on Monday still stranded in South
Africa.

Mutambara, together with Morgan Tsvangirai were due to visit the
UK under the banner of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign to mobilise support for
the resolution of Zimbabwe's seven-year old political stalemate. -
ZimOnline

Of Rumours and Coups - putting the Harare coup
attempt into perspective

Africa News, Netherlands

19 June 2007 - The Zimbabwe Crisis Platform.
Again, perhaps more so than ever before, the air in Harare is heavy with
rumours of coup d'états and Mugabe's soon-to-be downfall. Several months ago
a story emerged about a stand-off in Mugabe's office where ex-army officiado
and Zanu-PF bigwig Solomon Mujuru had barged in to plea for Mugabe's
retirement. A verbal scuffle ensued which saw Mujuru so enraged that he
pulled out his handgun and pointed it at the old president's head. Both
security details present then pulled their guns on one and other and an
uneasy tension must have followed. The affair is said to have ended in
Mujuru walking away with his bodyguards.

Now, only last week,
a new story surfaced about a foiled attempt to overthrow Mugabe's presidency
by means of violence. Allegedly two military aircraft - reportedly the last
two still capable of flight - were loaded with heavy bombs. In order to have
sufficient fuel for their intended mission - even for the armed forces a
scarcity these days - they had to fly to a military airstrip to refuel. Once
there and refuelling soldiers who had not been made part of the plan noticed
the unexpected aerial activity and investigated. They then arrested the
pilots. Their plan had been to bomb Mugabe's opulent Asian villa and the
official presidential palace.

The story continues that one of the
military men involved in the plot fled to the Zimbabwe embassy in France -
plots in Africa always involve France in one way or the other - where he
volunteered his information out of fear for more violence and bloodshed
following a coup. The embassy then passed on the information to Harare where
the planes were then apprehended and several mid ranking army personnel have
now been arrested. It is said that the kingpin is still on the run and might
have fled the country.

What can we make of these stories? Are
they to be believed or dismissed outright? In the volatile and fluid
situation which is the crisis of Zimbabwe it is never too easy to verify
whether a story is true or not. There are often no ways to double check.
Specifically now that freedom of speech has been successfully battered into
the ground and media hardly exists any more, save a few web-based papers
abroad. If the stories aren't true, it at the very least means that people
are getting so fed up with their situation in Zimbabwe that their fantasies
are running wild.

But now what if these stories are accurate?
What does this mean? And what would it mean if at some point one of these
violence-prone scenarios does really happen? If the air-raid-on-Mugabe story
is true it would mean that local housing minister Emerson Mnangagwa - former
trustee and right-hand man of Mugabe - has been carefully planning a coup
d'état for a year or so with mid-ranking army officers. The snitch officer
in Paris is said to have confessed that once Mugabe was overthrown they
would put Emerson Mnangagwa in place. And this while Mnangagwa has of late
been trying his outmost best to get close to Mugabe again after his failed
attempt to mobilise Zanu - PF support for his candidature for vice-president
instead of Joyce Mujuru who was Mugabe's then favourite (since then she has
fallen out of grace due to her family's open defiance of
Mugabe).

But perhaps there is another possibility. Perhaps the
Zimbabwe presidency orchestrated the coup attempt in order to create another
opportunity to clamp down on internal dissent. After all, Mugabe is more
unpopular than ever before and internal Zanu-PF disagreement with him is
growing. He could now set an example of several military men in order to
keep the security forces - for which money is running out - in line. In the
same token he could take out one of the main contenders for power;
Mnangagwa. Or is it Solomon Mujuru that he wants to take
out?

One could also argue that it would make good sense for
Mujuru to have Mnangagwa implicated in a coup attempt against Mugabe in
order to eliminate him politically as a contestant for highest office. After
all, Mujuru can't stand Mnangagwa it is said and would rather fight him than
have him become the next president. And Mnangagwa had just offered Mugabe
his hand in friendship and support, with Mugabe offering him the presidency
in 2008.

Yes, Mugabe's plan that should pre-empt a successful
SADC mediated settelement is to stand in the 2008 elections as Zanu-PF's
only candidate and then in the same year announce his retirement in order to
give power to Mnangagwa who will be 'confirmed' in power by a majority -and
recently enlarged - Zanu-PF parliament. If he retires at all, of
course.

Whether true or not, whether fact or fabrication it is
important to keep these possible scenarios in mind; the demise of African
states and their slide into anarchy, violence and bloodshed have too often
surprised outsiders.

[Several key analysts and
internationally acclaimed experts from Zimbabwe and South Africa will
provide key insights and analysis of the situation in the country. These
analysts can not be mentioned by name as they live and work in Zimbabwe;
with the current levels of repression in Zimbabwe by state agencies it is no
longer possible to freely express opinions of the nature that will be
presented here. Their names are known to the Africa Interactive editorial
team.]

Mugabe is the problem in Zimbabwe - a
Pan-Africanist Perspective

Africa News, Netherlands

18 June 2007, by Cyprian-Orina Nyamwamu in
Nairobi. John Kamau's article (Business Daily 29th May 2007) on Zimbabwe
calling on the world to give Mugabe a break was the most articulate article
regarding Zimbabwe to have filtered to the Kenyan press this year. Sadly the
Article was peppered with propaganda aimed at achieving sympathy for
Mugabe's despotic rule in Zimbabwe.

Destroying Zimbabwean
society

As we speak, Mugabe has succeeded in destroying Zimbabwean
society all in the name of fighting imperialism. The problem in Zimbabwe did
not begin with the land acquisition programme that Mugabe ordered after
losing a referendum on a new constitution in 2000. The problem is Mugabe's
understanding that he is Zimbabwe and even if all Zimbabweans were to die,
so long as he remains the President, so be it. You have in Zimbabwe a despot
who has appropriated his gallant role in the struggle for Zimbabwe's
independence and majority rule as a basis for killing ethnic Ndebele's and
suppressing opposition in the name of ZAPU and now MDC. This despot has
created a humanitarian and economic crisis that has driven nearly 3 million
Zimbabweans out of their country.

A campaign of
annihilating

Between 1981 and 1987, Mugabe ran a campaign of
annihilating a whole Ndebele population using the red-tagged Fifth Brigade
simply because Joshua Nkomo was Ndebele and had demanded for Multi-party
democracy and power sharing in Zimbabwe. When Gukurahundi ended in 1987 and
as the world began to embrace liberal democratic systems of governance,
Mugabe embraced the IMF-imposed liberalization programme that hurt the
people of Zimbabwe and delegitimised his rule further. The economic crisis
began with the failure of the SAPs and has been compounded by the chaotic
and inept governance system that Mugabe has created to safeguard his
populist rule.

Constitutional amendments

Mugabe's
after destroying ZAPU, then sought to entrench his rule through
constitutional amendments aimed at giving him unparalleled power to dominate
Zimbabwe's politics. Mugabe is also fearful of the repercussions that will
follow him after he leaves power emerging from the killings he sponsored and
supervised in Matebeleland and parts of Midlands.

Violent
land invasions

After Mugabe lost the 2000 referendum, mainly since
the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and the Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) led a campaign that was well coordinated against the Mugabe
constitutional amendements, he then had to jump to the violent land
invasions by war veterans and ZANU-PF stalwarts to reward cronies aimed at
consolidating support that he had lost over time. Here, a dictator who had
sensed defeat needed a quick populist act to hold his base together. Mugabe,
a Shona, witnessed for the first time parliament receive up to 57 MDC MPs
and nearly lost the presidential election in 2002. The whole of Matebeleland
voted for MDC as was the case in Shona dominated provinces because the
country was doubtful of Mugabe's credentials to lead a modern nation and
steward a modern economy. I can report that indeed the 2002 Presidential
election was stolen. Morgan Tsvangirai without doubt won that
election.

Anti-neo-colonialism

Since 2002 Mugabe has
been involved in a Mugabe-succeed-Mugabe subterfuge. In continuing with this
strategy Mugabe has packaged himself anew. He has presented himself as the
African leader of the anti-neo-colonialist and anti-imperialist war and
therefore the tackler of Blair and Bush; as the custodian of Zimbabwean
interests against whites and foreigners and the selfless and strategic
leader of a Zimbabwean revolution. He is none of these
three.

A failed leader

Mugabe is a failed leader of
the Zimbabwean independence. He has actually become the negation of the
Zimbabwean independence and freedom. Any one who plans and executes a
programme of killing more than 20,000 of his own people in the name of
fighting about 400 insurgents in Matebeleland, consolidates a dictatorship.
This dictatorship mismanages the economy and disregards the voices of it's
own people calling any one who has a different even better view a stooge and
reactionary. Any one who represses his own people, who bangles on land
reforms in attempting to achieve political ends of maintaining the status
quo must fail the test of patriotism and Pan-Africanism. Dr. Mugabe is not a
Pan-Africanist but a dictator who is exploiting Pan-Africanist sentiment. He
is not an anti-imperialist leader but a fascist who is exploiting
anti-imperialist sentiment to legitimize the tyranny and torture he is
unleashing on his own people.

A bankruptcy of
vision

He is not working towards giving the people land formerly
owned by whites. What Mugabe is doing is to reward his cronies to ensure
continued rule until death. Mugabe is not a strategic leader of Zimbabwe but
a coward who feels dwarfed by emerging leaders in his country. He only uses
his organizing skills to marshal political power against opponents
successfully. MDC's weakness to date has to be attributed to the weakness of
its leader to marshall numbers on sentimental platforms as Mugabe has
managed, rather than a bankruptcy of vision to deliver
Zimbabwe.

Ineptitude rule

Sadly Mugabe has succeeded
to portray his Zimbabwean victims as villains and to blame his ineptitude
rule on Blair and Bush. Africans who have yearned to see the minority whites
in Zimbabwe kicked and fellow blacks given land are so happy. They ask, what
was Mugabe supposed to do? To this I reply, Mugabe should have facilitated
the making of a democratic constitution in Zimbabwe, implement a
comprehensive agrarian reform, seek a SADC assisted plan to finance economic
modernization and hand over leadership to the next generation of elected
leaders.

Polythene roofed shelters

Mugabe supporters
who no longer care about Zimbabweans living in polythene roofed shelters in
economic exile in South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia blame economic ruin in
Zimbabwe to the sanctions imposed by the USA and Britain. While the
sanctions particularly those outlined in the Zimbabwe Democracy Act, passed
in the US should be condemned unreservedly, the fact is that diplomatic
sanctions are in the nature of personalised travel bans and freezing of
assets of ZANU-PF cronies. What about Mugabe's and ZANU-PFs mismanagement of
the economy through corruption, cronyism and looting? So are we going to sit
and whine about Blair and Bush? Kenya inherited same problems of unequal
land distribution from British colonial rule and while little has been done
to deal with the land issue, Kenyatta, Moi or Kibaki have not used land to
secure political victory and destroy the economy and the
society.

Economic independence

While we must resist
imperialism and neo-colonialism in all its forms and I am a believer of
economic independence, I am not about to side with fascist dictatorship, the
murder, harassment and torture of innocent Zimbabweans simply because they
oppose Mugabe's misrule. I am not about to tolerate human rights violation
and torture by a fellow African because he thinks he is fighting imperialism
yet he is corrupt and self aggrandizing. You can not hurt the people and
destroy the economy and cause a humanitarian crisis the proportion it
reached in Zimbabwe in the name of developing the same people and fighting
imperialism. We know you fear prosecution for killing ethnic Ndebeles when
out of the Office and fear a failed legacy marred by impunity and gross
human rights violations, after many years of gallant and celebrated struggle
for independence.

Stand with the people

As Africans we
must refuse to stand with the tyrants and stand with the people. The legacy
of Mugabe can not now become of greater significance than the millions of
suffering and dying Zimbabweans. The arguments that even in Kenya opposition
activists get killed and beaten in demonstrations and that since USA has
Guantanamo Bay so then Mugabe's acts of terror and debauchery are tolerable
are too shocking for my comprehension. Is Bush torturing Americans in
Guantanamo bay? Is Blair torturing Britons or Iraqis in Abu Ghraib? Why
should Mugabe and Museveni torture the victims of imperialism for us to win
against imperialism?

Deep political, economic and social
crisis

Logically, President Mbeki should act with urgency and
negotiate the safe exist of Mugabe from the Presidency of Zimbabwe. Mugabe
is the problem and can not solve the countries deep political, economic and
social crisis. ZANU-PF is no longer a nationalist liberation political party
but a machinery for marshalling sentiments to secure Mugabe's dictatorship
and the enrichment of government functionaries. The MDC should consider
organizing a broad National Democratic Alliance/ Front to persuade Mugabe
and ZANU PF to undertake political reforms to facilitate a free and fair
election in March 2008 where the will of the people shall
prevail.

Constitutional and electoral reforms

Those
who speak in support of a new Zimbabwe should in my view state this: If ZANU
PF were to win, which is unlikely if constitutional and electoral reforms
are undertaken to level the ground, then so be it. But I doubt if electoral
reforms are realistic since the real problem in Zimbabwe is Mugabe who is
determined to succeed himself. And the March 2008 election offers an
opportunity for that feat.

Assaulted MDC leader has safe
harbour in SA

From The Weekender (SA), 16 June

Sara Hudleston

Grace Kwinje, the Zimbabwean
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official who was "deported"
last week from SA, after arriving at OR Tambo International on a British
Airways flight from London without a valid visa, is still in the country,
courtesy of the home affairs department. In March, she was one of 50
opposition activists beaten by police in Harare following a rally. Kwinje
was treated for her injuries at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg before
leaving for the UK. She is back in SA for two weeks to receive further
medical attention and post-traumatic stress treatment. This week it was
established that Kwinje, who was returning to SA from London where her
children now live in exile, was detained overnight at the airport, and not,
in fact, deported. An MDC source in SA this week confirmed that Kwinje could
have been legally deported to London , but was saved by the intervention of
senior party officials who engaged the home affairs department. Sources
close to Kwinje say she arrived in SA without a valid visa. Although she
held a visa that had been issued in Harare before she was airlifted to
Johannesburg in March, and had been stamped until 20 June, it was only valid
for a single entry.

Prior to her detention in the airport's holding
facilities, Kwinje, who is a journalist, managed to e-mail friends and the
international media telling them that she was being deported to the UK. BA
spokesman Steven Forbes said that immigration officials had originally
instructed Kwinje to return to London immediately, but that she had refused
to board the plane as she had been parted with her luggage, which was only
found later. As a result, she was to leave on the next flight the following
day. "But by the time she was reunited with her luggage, the department of
immigration relented and extended her visa so she might receive the medical
attention she needs," Forbes said. Kwinje reportedly feared being deported
back to Zimbabwe after the beatings of MDC officials in March . Like many of
the others in the group, including Morgan Tsvangirai, Kwinje suffered
extensive injuries from severe blows to her body and her ear, which almost
was torn from her head. Kwinje later claimed in a newspaper article that she
was again attacked by a group of unknown assailants while being lifted into
an emergency aircraft bound for Johannesburg.

'Isolated' Mugabe told to step down - sources

Embattled Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has been told by his trusted
lieutenants that it is time for him to step down, and is considering
retiring to either Malawi or Namibia.

Sources revealed at the
weekend that Mugabe has been told by Happyton Bonyongwe, the head of the
Central Intelligence Organisation, Nathan Shamuyarira, the Zanu-PF
information secretary and Didymus Mutasa, the security minister, that he
will lose the next election if he stands.

Mugabe has been advised
to appoint a successor immediately to save Zanu-PF from embarrassment in the
2008 poll.

A senior Zanu-PF official said at the weekend that
Mugabe was now seriously considering stepping down.

"He has
become increasingly isolated and is feeling it. His trusted friends in the
party, Mutasa and Shamuyarira, now regard him as burden to Zanu-PF and are
pushing for him to go," the source said.

Last week, a
high level security meeting was held after a foiled coup, of which Solomon
Mujuru - retired army general and husband of Deputy President Joyce Mujuru -
is alleged to have been the mastermind. At that meeting, the source said,
Mugabe was told by his lieutenants that his time was up.

"He is
considering Malawi and Namibia as possible retirement homes," the source
said. "He has properties (farms) in those countries and has started making
moves because he knows that he will be unable to live safely in Zimbabwe
when he is no longer president."

ZimDaily, an online publication,
reported that Mugabe had used a recent trip to Malawi to look at a farm he
was offered by President Bingu wa Mutharika. Mugabe is also said to have
been guaranteed a safe haven in Namibia by his long-time ally Sam
Nujoma.

This article was originally published on page 1 of The
Star on June 17, 2007

Student leaders barred from writing exams

Staff writer18 June,
2007

The Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) has reported that
Masvingo University Students Union President, Whitlaw Mugwiji and Secretary
General, Edson Hlatswayo have been barred from writing examinations. The two
had mobilised students to defy the illegal top up fees demanded by the
university. This led to their arrest and they are now on a pending verdict,
after a hearing on 21st May. Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights are working
with them to draft a High Court order to try to get them permission to sit
exams.

In the meantime students at Hillside Teacher and Bulawayo
Polytechnic College have declared an indefinite class boycott, citing the
ever increasing cost of living at colleges. Students on Teaching Practice
are getting a stipend of Z$66,000 - the equivalent of three 300 ml bottles
of coke.

Slavery has been
'legalised' say rights advocates

HARARE, 18 June 2007 (IRIN) - Slave wages and the deaths of
about 10,000 Zimbabwean farmworkers as a consequence of the government's
land-redistribution policy are some of the issues highlighted by rights groups
in a recent report published on the plight of the country's one million
farmworkers.

"Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights [ZLHR] joins like-minded
Zimbabweans in condemning, in the strongest of terms, the treatment and
conditions which Zimbabwean farm workers have had to, and continue to, endure,"
the ZLHR said.

The
main problem is that farmworkers have, for a long time, been treated with
contempt by their employers

It called on
the government and farmers to "be cognisant of the harsh and ever-deteriorating
economic environment present, and the need for the workers to survive," a
sentiment echoed by the General Agriculture and Plantation Workers Union of
Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ).

"The main problem is that farmworkers have, for a
long time, been treated with contempt by their employers. They are viewed as
belonging to rural areas whose people do not need much money to subsist, but the
bottom line is that they are workers just like those working in offices, and
deserve the respect due to employees," GAPWUZ deputy secretary-general Gift Muti
told IRIN.

Although GAPWUZ secured a wage hike in May this year, most
farm owners kept paying their employees the old salaries. Under the new wage
structures, the highest paid farm workers, timber plantation workers, should be
paid a monthly wage of Z$300,000, (US$3.65 at the parallel market exchange rate
of Z$82,000 to US$1), those in horticulture should be getting Z$200,000
(US$2.43), while general labourers involved in the production of maize and wheat
should earn Z$96,000 (US$1.17) a month.

Less than a dollar a month wages

In terms of the old salary structure, which is still being adhered to, a
general farm worker earned Z$30,000 (US$0.36) a month - enough to buy two loaves
of bread at current prices - and far below the country's poverty datum line,
estimated at Z$3.5 million (US$43).

Zimbabwe's seven-year recession has
created an unemployment rate of 80 percent, and an annual inflation rate of more
than 3,700 percent - the highest in the world.

Earlier this year farm
workers and a joint parliamentary committee on agriculture and labour blamed the
poor wages on the failure of GAPWUZ to sufficiently represent their interests.

Sometimes I think God has condemned us to a life of poverty. My parents
were virtual slaves on white men's farms before the blacks took over. Now it
seems worse for me, and I don't have any hope for my children or their own
offspring getting out of the trap

Mulandu
Bauleni, 44, who works on a maize and wheat farm in Mashonaland Central
Province, told IRIN: "In the last three years, we have not been visited by any
representatives of the unions and our views are never sought when negotiations
are being carried out. I fail to understand how they can succeed in ensuring
good wages for us when they don't understand the plight we have."

Bauleni said his two children were supposed to be in grade two and four
respectively, but were no longer in school because he could not afford to buy
their uniforms or pay the fees of Z$25,000 (US$0.30) per term.

"Sometimes I think God has condemned us to a life of poverty. My parents
were virtual slaves on white men's farms before the blacks took over. Now it
seems worse for me, and I don't have any hope for my children or their own
offspring getting out of the trap," said Bauleni, who was wearing tattered
overalls, his only clothes.

'Life is getting worse'

The farm
Bauleni works on was taken over by a senior government official of the ruling
ZANU-PF party in 2001. He is still living in a shack and the family survives on
two meals of maizemeal porridge per day, sometimes supplemented by fish caught
in the farm's dams or streams by his children.

Bauleni said his employer
had told them he would not adopt the May wage increases because of the drought.
"But that is a lie. His crops are irrigated and the dam is half full, despite
the poor rains. Besides, we have helped him get high maize and wheat yields, and
there is evidence that he is getting lots of money from our sweat, since he has
bought a new car and two tractors."

On a nearby farm, Joyce Muzondo, 30
and a single mother, said they worked long hours but were not paid overtime and
sometimes went for months without receiving any wages.

The workers got
no sick or maternity leave and many were leaving farms in search of better
paying activities, such as illegal gold panning, beer brewing and prostitution.

Samual Rundori, a tobacco and maize farmer in Mashonaland Central
Province, who was given 400 acres by the government in 2003, admitted that some
new farmers were treating their workers like captives, but defended the low
wages he was giving his employees.

"It should be realised that, as new
farmers, we are operating under difficult conditions. Whereas the former
commercial farmers had large pieces of land, our plots are smaller and we don't
have adequate infrastructure for money-spinning farming," Rundori told IRIN.

"Besides, we are finding it difficult to access loans from banks that
require us to produce collateral security, which we currently don't have, while
at the same time we have to repay the government for the inputs it has been
giving us."

The government began issuing 99-year leases in 2006 and said
farmers would be able to use them as collateral, but most banks are rejecting
them, arguing that the leases don't guarantee repayment in the event of default
because the land remains state property.

10,000 farmworkers may have
died

A report on human rights violations incurred between 2000 and 2005,
'Adding Insult to Injury', by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and the
Justice for Agriculture Trust, both non-governmental organisations, said the
government's land-reform programme had cost the country billions of US dollars,
and as many as 10,000 farmworkers may have died as a result of being displaced
by farm invasions.

A survey examined 187 formerly white-owned commercial
farms over a six-month period between 2006 and 2007, of which 94 percent had
been parcelled out to new owners.

A
plausible case can be made for crimes against humanity having being committed
during these displacements

Researchers
found that about one percent of displaced farmworkers and their family had died,
which, if "extrapolated to the entire population of one million farmworkers and
their families, 10,000 people could have died after displacement from the
farms."

The report estimated that the total financial losses incurred by
the commercial farming sector as a result of the land redistribution amounted to
US$8.4 billion and that about 1 in 12 Zimbabweans had suffered at least one
human rights violation, while "many experienced multiple abuses".

The
survey suggested that "a plausible case can be made for crimes against humanity
having being committed during these displacements", and identified the
perpetrators as war veterans, ZANU-PF members and police officers, as well as
parliamentarians, officials from the presidency and other government
representatives.

"These finds point to an organised seizure of land
planned by officials, not a spontaneous seizure carried out by landless blacks,
as government claims," the report said.

Mutambara says Mugabe is not ready for serious talks

By Violet
Gonda18 June 2007

ZANU PF and the MDC finally held the first round of
talks in South Africa this weekend after a number of attempts by President
Thabo Mbeki to get the parties to the negotiating table. Senior officials
from both ZANU PF and MDC confirmed the meetings took place but remain mum
on the issues discussed. However, there are mixed reactions on the weekend's
development. Some observers believe progress has been made as the ruling
party had been dragging its feet on the SADC led initiative. But others are
not pinning much hope on the talks.Many believe the Mugabe regime is not
playing fair while the negotiations are underway, as there are numerous
examples which show there is no political will on the part of the
regime.. Arthur Mutambara, the President of one faction of the MDC involved
in the talks had his passport seized and four of his officials arrested last
Friday;. Two MDC activists who were abducted from Matobo district were
found dead last week;. Several MDC activists, one of them a
parliamentarian, are still in police custody on what the opposition says are
trumped up charges.. The regime is going ahead with constitutional
amendments to harmonise both the parliamentary elections.. On Monday the
ruling party started the voter registration exercise under the supervision
of the controversial registrar-general Tobaiwa Mudede. This is despite the
opposition saying an independent electoral commission should be appointed.
This is also one of the demands the MDC has submitted to SADC through Thabo
Mbeki.

Speaking after learning his passport had been released late on
Monday Mutambara said it is clear that Robert Mugabe is not taking these
talks seriously as he continues to harass the opposition. Mutambara said the
intention was to destabilize and disrupt opposition activities: "In
particular they were trying to undermine a Save Zimbabwe Campaign that we
were going to take to Europe. Out colleagues Morgan Tsvangirai, (Lovemore)
Madhuku, (Bishop Levee) Kadenge and the others have already left so what
they have done is to undermine that coalition, to undermine that working
together spirit."Mutumbara was supposed to have left with the other
leaders on Saturday but could not because of the passport seizure. Three of
the four opposition leaders arrested on Friday were released Saturday while
Nicholas Nqabutho Dube - who carried Mutambara's passport - was released
Monday afternoon. They were all released without charge. Mutambara said he
is now making preparations to meet the other opposition and civic leaders in
Europe this week.

He said the political parties have been given
strict instructions not to talk to the press by the South African President,
as part of his conditions for involvement. But the MDC leader was willing to
talk about the situation on the ground back home and how it affects the mood
of the talks. He said: "What is happening right now - the torture and murder
of our members, the torture and abuse of our members is an indication that
Mugabe is not ready for any serious talks with the opposition."Mutambara
believes Mugabe is only going through the motions of discussions and is not
prepared to discuss with the opposition as equals. "So yes, Mugabe is not
negotiating in good faith and hence it undermines the effectiveness of this
process because we don't see any sincerity in the efforts of Mugabe because
of what he is doing to the opposition."

When asked why the opposition is
going ahead with this charade, Mutambara said they agreed to give the Mbeki
initiative a chance but ultimately freedom will come from Zimbabweans
themselves.

Writers from SA join in Mugabe
protest

From The Star (SA), 18 June

Hans Pienaar

South African writers Zakes Mda and
Ingrid de Kok have already added their names to a worldwide reading appeal
on September 9 to protest against the policies of Zimbabwe President Robert
Mugabe. The appeal, launched by the International Literature Festival Berlin
in Germany, is to radio stations and other media to broadcast readings of
poems by leading Zimbabwean poets and the foreword to a book on Gukurahundi,
the massacre of Ndebele dissidents and state actions against them from 1980
to 1988. Ulrich Schreiber, of the Peter Weiss Foundation, said: "Through
this reading, the International Literature Festival Berlin would like to
help draw attention to the situation in this post-colonial country. This
reality has been concealed long enough - unfortunately also by members of
the political class in South Africa, which holds a special responsibility
concerning this matter. It also attacks the silence, caused by a false sense
of solidarity, which is one of the bases for Mugabe's power." Apart from
radio stations, schools, universities, theatres and other cultural
institutions in Africa and elsewhere will be asked to read Elinor Sisulu's
foreword to the book, Gukurahundi in Zimbabwe: A Report on the Disturbances
in Matabeleland and the Midlands 1980-1988. Sisulu said one of the most
painful aspects of the Gukurahundi massacres was the continuing "wounds of
silence".

From The Weekender (SA), 16 June

Assaulted MDC
leader has safe harbour in SA

Sara Hudleston

Grace Kwinje,
the Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) official who
was "deported" last week from SA, after arriving at OR Tambo International
on a British Airways flight from London without a valid visa, is still in
the country, courtesy of the home affairs department. In March, she was one
of 50 opposition activists beaten by police in Harare following a rally.
Kwinje was treated for her injuries at Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg
before leaving for the UK. She is back in SA for two weeks to receive
further medical attention and post-traumatic stress treatment. This week it
was established that Kwinje, who was returning to SA from London where her
children now live in exile, was detained overnight at the airport, and not,
in fact, deported. An MDC source in SA this week confirmed that Kwinje could
have been legally deported to London , but was saved by the intervention of
senior party officials who engaged the home affairs department. Sources
close to Kwinje say she arrived in SA without a valid visa. Although she
held a visa that had been issued in Harare before she was airlifted to
Johannesburg in March, and had been stamped until 20 June, it was only valid
for a single entry.

Prior to her detention in the airport's holding
facilities, Kwinje, who is a journalist, managed to e-mail friends and the
international media telling them that she was being deported to the UK. BA
spokesman Steven Forbes said that immigration officials had originally
instructed Kwinje to return to London immediately, but that she had refused
to board the plane as she had been parted with her luggage, which was only
found later. As a result, she was to leave on the next flight the following
day. "But by the time she was reunited with her luggage, the department of
immigration relented and extended her visa so she might receive the medical
attention she needs," Forbes said. Kwinje reportedly feared being deported
back to Zimbabwe after the beatings of MDC officials in March . Like many of
the others in the group, including Morgan Tsvangirai, Kwinje suffered
extensive injuries from severe blows to her body and her ear, which almost
was torn from her head. Kwinje later claimed in a newspaper article that she
was again attacked by a group of unknown assailants while being lifted into
an emergency aircraft bound for Johannesburg.

UNICEF Humanitarian Action: Zimbabwe Donor Update 18 Jun 2007

UNICEF
URGENTLY REQUIRES $ 6,253,000 TO ADDRESS THE URGENT NEEDS OF CHILDREN IN THE
AREAS OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND PROTECTION

2007 CAP appeal just over 30 % funded

Major food crisis looming with 4 million people in need of assistance by the
end of 2007.

Rapid deterioration of health, water and sanitation systems resulting in an
increased number of vulnerable children and women

1. CRITICAL ISSUES FOR CHILDREN AND WOMEN

The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is characterized by the simultaneous
presence of acute humanitarian needs and more protracted, chronic
vulnerabilities. The most acute humanitarian needs include those of populations
affected by serious food insecurity, HIV and cholera outbreaks as well as those
displaced during the fast-track land reform programme, Operation Murambatsvina
(OM) and more recent re-evictions. The more chronic vulnerabilities include
inadequate access to basic social services, lack of agricultural inputs and
disrupted livelihoods.

Recent studies report that the prevalence of stunting, which is the indicator
for chronic malnutrition, is 30%. This is the highest since 1988. Acute
malnutrition has remained relatively static at around 6% since 1999. The
Government has declared 2007 a drought year with expectations of only a third of
the harvest Matabeleland South is estimated to have lost about 95% of its
potential harvest, while boreholes and dams are drying up.

Zimbabwe is one of the countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic, with an
adult sero-prevalence rate estimated at 20.1%. An estimated 1.6 million people
were living with HIV/AIDS in 2006. More than half of all new infections occur
among young people, especially girls. As a result, life expectancy has dropped
from 61 years during the early 1990s to 34 years at the end of 2005 creating the
highest percentage of children who are orphaned in the world, i.e. 24%. Of the
estimated 1.6 million orphans about 75% have been orphaned by AIDS. In 2007
alone, 130,000 children will loose one or both parents. These children are in
immediate need of psycho-social support and need access to basic social
services.

The economic situation has led to the deterioration of the basic social
services. Inflation is officially at over 4,500%, and in real terms perhaps
twice that. The health and education systems, eroded by a combination of
deteriorating infrastructure, public expenditures and high attrition of human
resources, are now characterized by shortages of essential supplies, reduced
accessibility by the poor, low motivation of staff and weakened planning and
management capacities. Health has seen the highest erosion of human resources,
from “brain drain” and AIDS with a 60 per cent and over 30 per cent vacancy rate
for doctors and nurses respectively. With AIDS patients occupying about 70 per
cent of hospital beds, the strain on health services is enormous, making it
difficult to maintain critical services. For example, the proportion of children
who had not received any vaccination increased from 12% in 1999 to 21% in 2006.
UNICEF's existing Child Health Days seeks to address this. The current campaign
seeks to immunise all children under five.

Access to safe water supply and basic sanitation continued to decline due to
the general economic decline, eroded institutional and community capacity,
persistent droughts and the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In rural areas, a
third of the population does not have access to an improved drinking water
source. There are currently 24% (17,000) of communal water supply facilities not
functioning. As a result there is a daily shortage of safe water supply amongst
approximately 2,500,000 people. Furthermore, Bulawayo city water supply
reservoirs are currently 27% full (nine month supply as of 1 May 2007 due to the
below average rainfall and insignificant inflows into the supply dams. The
remaining reservoir water will not have adequate piping capacity to supply the
city, resulting in constant water cuts and rationing. The most affected are the
high-density residential areas, where the most vulnerable reside. Additionally,
water and sewage systems in most urban areas have broken down due to age,
excessive load, pump breakdowns and poor operation and maintenance. The
breakdown of sewage systems has resulted in large volumes of raw sewage being
discharged into natural watercourses, which ultimately feed into major urban
water supply sources. In addition, Zimbabwe continues to experience cholera
epidemics. The epidemics have been associated with poor hygiene, sanitation and
shortage of safe drinking water supply in the affected districts. The situation
is expected to deteriorate in the second half of 2007.

The education system in Zimbabwe has been eroded by a combination of
deteriorating infrastructure, reduced public expenditure and high attrition of
human resources. It is now experiencing low enrolment rates, declining
attendance and completion rates, low transition rate to secondary, shortage of
learning space and teaching and learning materials. Population movement in farms
due to a government land reform programme has resulted in the establishment of
nearly 628 satellite schools which lack basic infrastructure. Two million
primary school age children attend school with a textbook pupil ratio of 1:8 and
over 1.5 million 13-18 year olds at secondary school with textbook pupil ratios
of 1:6. As a result performance rates have been declining. For instance, grade 7
pass-rates are 37%.

Advocates Disappointed by New UN Rights Council

VOA

By
Lisa SchleinGeneva18 June 2007

The advocacy
group, Human Rights Watch says the U.N. Human Rights Council has
under-performed in its first year of existence. Human Rights Watch says the
Council, so far, has not lived up to the promise of being a stronger, more
effective body than the Human Rights Commission that was replaced last June.
Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva where the new Council has been
meeting.

Human Rights Watch and others critical of the U.N. Human Rights
Council say African and Asian countries, as well as Cuba, Russia and China
are behind efforts to weaken the organization. They say their almost
single-minded focus on censuring Israel for its conduct in the Palestinian
occupied territories has deflected attention away from other troubled parts
of the world, such as Sudan and Zimbabwe.

But, Global Advocacy
Director of Human Rights Watch, Peggy Hicks, tells VOA Western countries
must also share the blame. "The fatal blow has not come just from countries
that want to stop scrutiny, but also been dealt by countries that ought to
be human rights supporters and ought to be doing the right thing within this
body. As I said, some States have had a very inconsistent level of
engagement. So, the Council is a new institution. It needs time to be able
to engage more effectively. It has got off to a very weak start. But, there
certainly is room for it to do better and hand-wringing and writing it off
is not going to serve human rights victims," he said.

Many developing
countries would like to do away with the practice of assigning special
investigators to report on nations with poor human rights records. They
claim this process of naming and shaming is not productive and does not make
a big difference to people suffering abuse.

Hicks disagrees. She says the
threat of condemning a country on its human rights behavior often persuades
governments to make changes. "A great example of this is Nepal in the last
session of the Commission where Nepal feared a resolution following its
imposition of martial Law. And, because of its concern over a possible
resolution, it ultimately agreed to a human rights monitoring mission. That
mission made a real difference and saved lives on the ground," she
said.

The United States has been skeptical of the Council since its
formation and has refused to become a member. Hicks regrets this decision
and says the United States would be much more effective by being at the
table than by staying away. "By saying that it does not want to run, it sent
a signal that it does not care. Now, I think they have tried to mitigate
that signal by engaging quite effectively here-both at the Council here in
Geneva and, as I said, in New York in the elections. But, they would be more
effective if they were at the table," she said.

Hicks says the
Council has important work to do and she hopes it is up to the task. She
says countries such as Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan,
Belarus, Iraq and Iran should remain on the human rights watch
list.

She says the Council should get behind a proposal to send a
rights monitoring mission to Sri Lanka. As in the case of Nepal, she says
she believes such a mission could make a real difference.

Court records indicate that the defendants allegedly wanted to
replace Mugabe with Rural Housing and Amenities Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The Zanu (PF) strongman has denied any involvement saying the accusations
are 'stupid'. The Prosecution team told the court Matapo wanted the soldiers
to take control of country after which he planned to invite Mnangagwa and
others to form a government.

High court Judge Tedias Karwi ordered
that the bail application for the six men should be held in an open court,
dealing a major blow to efforts by the State to keep the matter under wraps.
However there seems to be doubt among Zimbabweans over the foiled coup
attempt.

The MDC's secretary for Security and Intelligence Giles Mutsekwa
said the government has an obligation to release the details of the plot to
the nation as the issue was of national interest.

'We are beginning
to see loopholes in this whole thing and we are getting indicators that this
was a stage-managed coup plot. For a start nowhere in the world do you get
people who matter in the country facing a threat of a coup but managing to
travel outside the country as if nothing has happened,' Mutsekwa
said.

He was referring to Mugabe and defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi.
A few days after reports of the foiled plot, Mugabe flew to Tripoli for
talks with the Libyan leader while Sekeramayi is reported to be visiting
China.

'I suspect this is another plot by the regime to eliminate threats
from inside its divided camp and to divert attention from the real issues of
political and economic problems. The names of the suspects tell you a big
story. Only two of them have a military background and yet a coup is all
about soldiers taking over power and not civilians,' Mutsekwa
added.

On Saturday high court Judge Tedias Karwi refused to grant the six
suspects bail at the request of state prosecutors but insisted there be
transparency by holding the trial in public. The state Herald newspaper
reported that Matapo allegedly conspired with his co-accused and recruited
members of the security forces from the Zimbabwe National Army, the Air
Force of Zimbabwe and the police and gave them some tasks in preparation for
the coup.

Court throws out freedom bid by detained MDC activists

By Lance
Guma18 June 2007

Several MDC activists who have been in detention for
over 2 months on trumped up terrorism charges had their bid for freedom
blocked by a Harare magistrate on Friday last week. Glen View legislator
Paul Madzore and 12 others had an application to have the case thrown out
refused by magistrate Gloria Takundwa. On Monday the same thing happened
when Raymond Bake, a coordinator with the Combined Harare Residents
Association (CHRA), also had his application thrown out. The magistrates on
both occasions argued there was reasonable suspicion the accused committed
the offences and so they could not throw out the case. Madzore and the other
12 were remanded to the 29th June.

Defence lawyer Alec Muchadehama
has had a frustrating time handling the cases. Not only are the applications
being handled separately, he has had to process both bail and refusal of
remand applications at different intervals in both the Magistrates and High
Courts. On Tuesday he will be back at the High Court trying to argue for his
clients to be granted bail. The state case has been falling apart bit by bit
and a number of activists were released following the dropping of charges by
police. Mugabe's regime is accused of launching a deliberate crackdown on
the opposition in an attempt to weaken it ahead of scheduled elections in
2008.

Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Power Company, who employ one of the MDC
activists in detention Morgan Komichi, are making frantic attempts to fire
him on allegations of absenteeism. Komichi is an instrument technician at
the Munyati Power Station and has been locked up in remand prison for over
two months. The ZPC insist he should attend a disciplinary hearing to answer
the allegations. The MDC official is however reported to be battling for his
life and is in a prison hospital. The ZPC however told his lawyers the
hearings would proceed even in his absence.

Another Attempt to Reclaim Media Independence

The nongovernmental Media
Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) launched the Media Council of Zimbabwe (MCZ)
earlier this month. If MCZ members have their way, the ruling ZANU-PF will
cease its stranglehold on the operations of the country's media and task
this autonomous body to independently regulate and monitor the media in
Zimbabwe.

Several newspapers, including the country's independent daily
newspaper, The Daily News and its sister publication The Daily News on
Sunday, have been shut down by the government following the introduction of
tough media laws aimed at restricting media reporting.

The repressive
laws that the government introduced in the past five years have also seen
the imposition of state permits on local reporters. Foreign journalists have
been barred from working in the country.

CNN and BBC have been among the
international broadcast organizations which have become victims of the
government crackdown. The government deems these organizations as the
distributors of negative information on the Zimbabwean
situation.

Government officials have seen a connection between the
launch of the opposition political party the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) and what they regard as the independent media's anti-government
propaganda aimed at pushing the masses to revolt against President Robert
Mugabe's 27-year-long rule.

The government believes that the
independent media supports the MDC while rubbishing government
policies.

Zimbabwe's economy has seemingly irreversibly slid into an
abyss that the MDC blames on what it has termed unsound economic, social and
political policies that have left Zimbabweans beggars in a country
overflowing with natural resources.

The country's inflation rate
currently hovers above the 3,000 percent mark, with independent analysts
predicting that it could reach close to 10,000 percent by the end of the
year if the government fails to come up with a rescue package for the
economy.

The launch of the self-regulating Media Council of Zimbabwe,
according to Zimbabwe Union of Journalists president Matthew Takaona, is a
signal from journalists that they can regulate themselves, in contrast with
the current scenario where news operations are regulated by a government
appointed commission.

Tafataona Mahoso, who has been described by his
opponents as a ZANU PF praise singer and media hangman, currently chairs the
official Media and Information Commission.

Addressing about 150
journalists and members of civil society that gathered to witness the launch
on 8 June, Takaona said the media council seeks to supervise and maintain
professional and ethical conduct among the country's media
practitioners.

''An independent, non-partisan and apolitical media
council, as opposed to a mandatory regulatory body, is the best system for
promoting freedom of expression. As the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists we
support the launch of the voluntary media council and hope it ushers in a
new era for the media in this country,'' said Takaona.

He also
emphasized that the body should fairly arbitrate on media issues to avoid
legal suits as is the order of the day in the country presently. Failure to
come up with mature decisions could adversely affect the council.

''This
media council comes amid storms from within and without the media
fraternity. As such, I would like to urge those elected to this council to
desist from making naive decisions that will affect the lifespan of the
council because as journalists, we have felt the pain of government
regulation.

''I also want to urge the elected members to desist from
dabbling in politics as we are not in the business of politics but to
regulate and arbitrate, as effectively as possible, media disputes with both
government and civic society,'' Takaona pointed out.

Designed and made by two artists from Southern Africa, Mbuyisa and Moji
Maphalala and English artist Edith Slee, the map incorporates traditional
Zimbabwean fabric and beadwork, with colours mixed from red Zimbabwean
soil.

Mugabe not welcome at Europe-Africa summit, says
Portugal

EUbusiness.com

18 June 2007, 21:47 CET(LISBON) - Portugal's Foreign Minister
Luis Amado said Monday Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would not be
welcome at a EU-African Union summit being held in November in
Lisbon.

"Personally I have no interest in Mugabe coming to Lisbon," Amado
said, adding that the veteran leader's presence would be a "factor of
disturbance."

The EU imposed a travel ban on Mugabe and more than 100
people closely linked to his regime after the Zimbabwean leader won
elections in 2002 that international observers said were rigged and marred
by intimidation.

The octogenarian president has also been slammed for
leading the once-model economy into ruin and trampling on democracy and
human rights. The southern African nation currently has the world's highest
inflation rate.

"It is a question of principle for the UE, in the same
way that for the African Union the presence of the presidents of all the
member states is a question of principle," Amado said.

Leading
African politicians have denounced any suggestion that Mugabe be barred from
what would be the first Europe-Africa summit in seven years.

German
Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier this month accused Mugabe of "unspeakable
acts" but said the November summit would go ahead even if he
attended.

"It cannot be the case that we do not work with a continent
just because one country commits unspeakable acts. So everybody will be
invited," said Merkel.

Germany holds the rotating EU presidency until
the end of June. It will then be taken over by Portugal, which will host the
summit in Lisbon.

Ghanaian Foreign Minister Nana Addo Akufo-Addo, whose
country heads the African Union, and his South African counterpart Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma both came out against the idea of a ban on Mugabe attending the
summit.

Tsvangirai rally - change of venue

Zimbabwejournalists.com

By
a Correspondent

FROM THE ZIMBABWE VIGIL

OPPOSITION LEADER IN
UK

The Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is to speak at a
rally of Zimbabwean exiles in Luton on Saturday 23rd June. His visit comes
as crucial discussions are underway about the future of Zimbabwe.

Mr
Tsvangirai, President of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), will be
in the UK from 20th June for a few days as part of delegation from the Save
Zimbabwe Campaign. Others in the delegation include Arthur Mutambara,
leader of a breakaway faction of the MDC, the Rev Levee Kadenge, convener of
the Zimbabwean Christian Alliance, Lovemore Madhuku, Chair of the National
Constitutional Assembly, and others including the student leader Promise
Mkwananzi.

The Save Zimbabwe Campaign is the umbrella organisation
under which opposition forces in Zimbabwe are campaigning for change. It
organised the prayer meeting on 11th March which resulted in the brutal
assaults on many opposition activists including Mr Tsvangirai.

The
rally will be held at Lewsey Community Centre, Landrace Road, Luton LU4 0SW
on Saturday, 23rd June 2007 from 1- 4 pm

For more information,
contact:

Ephraim Tapa, Chair, MDC
UK 07940 793 090

Julius
Mutyambizi-Dewa, Secretary, MDC UK 07984 254 830

Jaison
Matewu, Organising Secretary, MDC UK 07816 619
788

Directions

By car: Leave M1 at J11 and take A505
Dunstable Road to Luton, Dunstable. After three-quarters of a mile you will
reach Poynters Road roundabout. Take 3rd exit onto Poynters Road and after
half a mile turn right into Leagrave High Street. Take the first turning
left in to Amhurst Road. Turn right into Kirkwood Road at the T-junction,
then first left into Abercorn Road. At the crossroads turn left into Brunel
Road, then right into Thatch Close and immediately left into Haymarket
Road. Turn right at the T-Junction with Landrace Road. Lewsey Community
Centre is a short distance from the turning.

Probe unearths 100t of sugar

The Herald

Herald Reporter

AT
least 100 tonnes of sugar were found at the premises of two companies in
Harare yesterday as investigations by the Anti-Corruption Commission, the
Ministry of Industry and International Trade and police unearthed serious
illicit dealings in the commodity.

The companies where the sugar was
discovered do not have licences to trade in sugar.

Brickwall Private
Limited in Msasa, where 71 tonnes of sugar were discovered, is a holder of a
licence to sell bicycles.

Officials at the company said the firm was
still awaiting a licence to deal in sugar from the Ministry of Industry and
International Trade.

A Chinese businessman, only identified as Alec, runs
the company.

Produ-Trade Private Limited in Willowvale, where about 30
tonnes of sugar were found, buys its sugar from Brickwall and later
repackages it before selling to selected white commercial farmers at
inflated prices.

Brickwall gets its sugar supplies directly from Triangle
Limited.

The two firms were yesterday issued with tickets for
overcharging.

At Produ-Trade, which is along Woolwich Road, the sugar is
put into two-kilogramme packs and placed into larger plastic bags together
with a bar of soap, 500 grammes of salt and 250 grammes of matemba and
sealed.

The new packs would then be sold to selected white commercial
farmers.

The company's managing director Ms Jannel Snook said the new
packs would be sold to farmers who would then "give the sugar, soap, matemba
and salt to their farm workers".

Some companies, she said, buy 10kg
and 50kg bags of sugar for their workers' consumption.

Surprisingly,
the company has a wholesale licence, under the name Machikichori
Wholesalers, which makes it illegal for them to sell sugar to people without
retail licences.

Ms Snook said the company also had a food processing
licence and the packaging of sugar, matemba, salt and soap was part of the
food processing exercise.

Invoices seen by The Herald showed that the
sugar was being sold at prices higher than the gazetted ones.

For
example, an invoice for the sale of sugar made to Tanganda Estates showed
that 10kg of white sugar which costs $167 000 was sold for $190
000.

Sugar has been in short supply since the beginning of the
year.

Parliament has since instituted a probe into the dealings of the
sugar industry as the commodity is in abundant supply on the black
market.

Unscrupulous businesspeople and individuals, including
supermarket managers and workers, are hoarding sugar which is channelled to
the black market.

Tsvangirai no longer coming to Canada

the Southern African

:: MAP Feature Service Monday, 18 June 2007 TORONTO - Movement
for Democratic Change (MDC) leaders who had been scheduled to arrive in
Canada next week are no longer coming, Toronto MDC chairman, Andrew
Mudzingwa has confirmed.

Mudzingwa told The Southern African.com on
Sunday that Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and other opposition and
civic leaders cancelled their Canada leg of a tour of western countries that
begins in UK on Wednesday.

Mudzingwa did not give reasons for
the cancellation of the trip but sources said there had not been enough time
to make the necessary arrangements for a "suitable" reception by Canadian
political leaders.

"The local branch is also still restructuring,"
said the source.

It would have been Tsvangirai's second visit to
Canada following the disastrous trip he made a few years ago when he met Ben
Menashe who later turned into a material government witness in Tsvangirai's
treason trial which collapsed due to lack of adequate evidence.

Mutambara, who spent many years studying in the US, was here in late April
this year, when he met Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter MacKay.

The SZC came into prominence in March
when it organised a prayer meeting that resulted in the police arresting and
torturing Tsvangirai and other opposition leaders.

The torture
was condemned worldwide and brought more global awareness of the Zimbabwe
political and economic crisis.

It led to an emergency summit of
Southern Africa Development Community leaders after which South African
president, Thabo Mbeki was chosen to mediate between President Robert
Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF and the MDC, in hope to stave off a civil unrest
that could spill into the region.

The talks have been progressing
slowly against a tight deadline of March 2008 when a free and fair election
is supposed to be held under terms agreed by both parties.

President Mugabe has refused efforts by the opposition and other players to
have the elections moved further into 2008 to allow more time for the talks,
arguing that his party is ready for elections anytime and the MDC should
also be ready if it is a serious political force.

Rio Tinto's Murowa expansion on
hold

diamondintelligence.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------18
June 2007 Rio Tinto's planned US$200 million expansion of its Murowa diamond
mine in Zimbabwe may end before it begins, due to changes in the country's
currency regulations and mining laws. The Zimbabwe government has asked the
mining company, which owns 78 percent of the mine, to voluntarily end an
agreement permitting it to keep foreign currency off shore. The government
previously stated that it would mandate all companies to hand over 40
percent of their foreign currency to it.

According to media
reports, it is understood that Rio Tinto will not proceed with the Murowa
expansion unless a clear agreement over foreign currency management is
reached. Also under negotiation is the mining company's expected level of
"indigenisation," r eferring to the transfer of wealth from the minority
whites to Zimbabwe's majority blacks. Rio Tinto is currently renegotiating
with government, though talks have been going on for almost nine
months.

The latest draft of Zimbabwe's new mining laws does not
include a "scorecard" provision, which would credit companies for historical
social spending in Zimbabwe in exchange for a lower government stake in
their company. This provision was included in previous versions of the laws
that have circulated in recent years.

Locally listed public
company RioZim holds the remaining 22 percent of the Murowa

'Doomsday' Warning for World Cup

FORENSIC expert David Klatzow has warned that authorities must
act fast to improve police services in the Western Cape to prevent a
"doomsday scenario" during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

"We are
experiencing a crime crisis. There is still time to salvage the situation.
We need to act quickly or else in two to five years we'll be another
Zimbabwe."

This follows the Weekend Argus's coverage yesterday of a
damning report on the meltdown of police services in the province and the
near collapse of forensic services.

Klatzow is one of the key
compilers of the controversial report dealing with the state of police and
their inability to protect the SA crime capital.

It was penned - "in
desperation", according to Klatzow - by a group of 15 forensic specialists,
senior advocates and politicians over a three-month period. It outlines the
inefficiencies of police and the "crying need" to devise strategies to
improve and protect the frayed blue line.

It has been handed to Premier
Ebrahim Rasool's office and underpins a call from prominent Capetonians,
including Mayor Helen Zille, for Rasool to set up a judicial commission of
inquiry into the police crisis.

The report highlights low police morale,
poor physical and mental health, devastated forensic science services, poor
communication skills, sector policing, policing in the rural areas and the
security gap left by disbandment of the old military commando
system.

It also speaks of concern about the scourge of gangs on the Cape
Flats and the proliferation of drug abuse.

It says rampant crime
affects the most vulnerable, business, farmers' ability to grow food and the
ability of the province to prosper economically so that it can uplift the
poor.

It says that it is imperative that a constructive, multi-faceted
initiative be set up in the Western Cap to tackle the
problems.

Klatzow said good police were in the minority in the service.
Many members were functionally illiterate, and others battled to communicate
in English, a language that was the official language of the police but a
minority language in terms of the population of the province and of the
police themselves, most of whom spoke Afrikaans or Xhosa at
home.

Klatzow said affirmative action was crippling the police. Posts
were allowed to stand empty rather than be filled by whites. "We are
obsessed with race."

He quoted provincial police commissioner Mzwandile
Petros's description of the level of efficiency in some police stations as
"wheel-barrow cases" - if they were not picked up and pushed they simply
stood around and did nothing.

In May, Zille wrote to Rasool on behalf of
a group of concerned people, including business leaders and politicians
calling for "radical interventions" in specialist areas such as detective
training and laboratories.

Rasool's spokeswoman Shado Twala said the
premier had responded to the mayor saying he was seeking advice about
setting up a commission.

Centre for Constitutional Rights director Paul
Hoffman, who worked on the report, said a commission would allow police to
suggest improvements and air grievances.

Provincial police
spokeswoman Director Novela Ptelwa said the police were outraged by the
publication in Weekend Argus of the report. She said: "The report is flawed.
Most of these problems are a national one. The commandos fell under the
auspices of the South African National Defence Force and the laboratories
under the Department of Health."

But Bono insisted that Bush be included as a friend to Africa,
noting he has quadrupled American aid to the continent, pledged $15 billion
for AIDS and another $1.2 billion to combat malaria in vulnerable
countries.

The magazine consists of mostly positive or encouraging
stories: Surfing on South African beaches; a music festival in the Sahara;
Kenya's revival from endemic corruption; rogue airlines in the Congo; the
fight against AIDS; China's lust for African oil.

The
magazine is perhaps more optimistic than the facts of Africa warrant, with
little mention of countries that show little hope for reform or progress
such as Angola, Sudan (Darfur), Somalia, some west and central African
countries we hear little about.

The most glaring example of African
hopelessness -- economically and politically -- is Zimbabwe, where aging
Robert Mugabe, at 83, is the world's longest reigning tyrant. The last
Stalinist this side of Pyongyang.

Discouraging

What's so
discouraging is not the despotism of Mugabe's Marxist regime, but that the
rest of Africa tolerates, even reveres him.

At independence in 1980,
Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) was the most self-reliant and hopeful country
of sub-Saharan Africa.

Whites who made Rhodesia work when Ian Smith broke
from Britain, overnight became loyal to Zimbabwe.

Mugabe even thanked
Smith for making the country self-reliant. The future looked
promising.

Today, the dream has long become a nightmare. Under Mugabe's
rule, life expectancy has plunged from 63 to 33. Some 3,500 white-run farms
(that employed black labour and produced abundant food) have been reduced to
500. Mugabe's cronies have produced starvation.

This year, drought
has intensified human misery.

There's little hope for change since Mugabe
crushes all opposition. Inflation is 3,000%. Zimbabwe elections are rigged,
with the likes of former PM Jean Chretien forgiving Mugabe's debts to
Canada, thus encouraging corruption.

To Britain's shame, in 1994
Mugabe was named Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB), an honour the Queen
should never have made, and should long ago have revoked, as universities
are beginning to do with honorary degrees awarded him.

The leader of
a gallant opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan
Tsvangirai, opposes both corruption and tyranny and is constantly harassed,
with no support from the Graydon Carters or Bonos, who don't include him as
one of the hopes of the continent. In fact, many of those Bono honours, also
refuse to criticize Mugabe.

Before he died in 1999, the old warrior for
independence, Joshua Nkomo, sent his family to live in Canada to escape
their possible assassination by Mugabe's thugs.

In short, Zimbabwe is
the sorriest country of Africa, when it could be the most
hopeful.

Blacks and whites are both Mugabe's victims, but are unable to
do much without foreign support, and there is no pressure from the rest of
Africa.

That's the story Vanity Fair should do, if it truly wants to help
Africans.

Dear EditorThis week we hear that the British
Government is compensating a soldier whowas left paralysed after an accident
with a vehicle while on duty in thearmy. He is to receive £
4,000,000There is a wonderful lad who was defending his country against the
influx ofcommunism into Zimbabwe in the 1970s, who was only six months into
hisnational service training, when he was hit by shrapnel from a mortar
firedfrom Mozambique side of the Zimbabwean border. He was nineteen at the
time.He has been paralysed from the neck down and virtually bed ridden
eversince. He excelled at all school sports and was Captain of most of
theteams he played in. He is bright and had a wonderful future in a
wonderfulcountry called Rhodesia. It boomed under Western
sanctions.

But Britain, led by the Labour party knew better and went all
out to installa so called western style, one man one vote, democracy ( sic
!!) on a trulytribal system. Tribal Chiefs were the respected leaders of the
varioustribes in the country at the time and, Ian Smith and his
Democraticallyelected Government evolved a system getting the Chiefs to form
a collectiveCouncil, to join in with the Government to learn to develop and
encouragetheir people to look after the areas set aside for the various
tribes, andto learn how Western Governments operate. There was no colour
bar to jointhe electoral roll, only a fairly low financial criterion. No
Commercialfarmers or industrialists were permitted to buy or operate in
these areas,which covered thousands of hectares. Now every one knows what
Britain hasbrought about. Absolute chaos and poverty. A bust corrupt
communist regime,and now a massive exodus of it`s wonderful people to
countries where theycan at least survive..But Trevor cannot leave. His
family sold their farm years ago to get thefinance to support their son. He
has two full time African nurse aids whohave been loyal to him for some 25
years. He has no Government to turn to.His father has had two strokes and is
bed ridden His brother is working insecurity in Afghanistan to earn foreign
currency to support his family. Helost his farm to Mugabe`s cronies, with no
compensation. The family havebeen helped in various ways by friends and
fund raising locally. He cansurvive for a couple more years. He is one of
the forgotten tribe inZimbabwe. Where can he look for the future It seems
the silence is deafening

I quote from the Zim Independent's
Muckracker regarding the Regime's freetractor extravaganza:

"However,
that said, there were obviously individuals receiving governmentgifts who
should know better. For those business people wondering why theCZI has lost
its voice and no longer speaks for them the answer is notdifficult to
discern: current CZI president Callistus Jokonya is among thebeneficiaries.
So is ZNCC president Marah Hativagone. And will anybody takeDoug
Taylor-Freeme seriously as a spokesman for the farming community
afterthis?"

CFU Congress (in August 2007) appears
to be seen as "a big day out" by anumber of people.In 1991, CFU
published a comprehensive document on what would happen if theGovernment's
proposed land reform took place - i.e. reduced production,possible
disruption to the economy, marginal job loss, possible slightinflation and
an outside chance a slight devaluation to the Zimbabwe dollaras I
recall.Congress might well seize this golden opportunity to compare the
projecteddown turn in agricultural production (as printed in 1991) as
against theactual up to July 2007 - Budget vs. Actual to give Zanu a
score.Somewhere between Alan Burl's calling all the farmers to the Sheraton
in1991, and the year 2 000, there appears to have been a change of ideology
atCFU and it was decided (at a higher intellectual level?) that the
veryprofessional document was actually completely incorrect, and at the
veryleast very politically incorrect.The document was A4 with a green
and white cardboard cover and I gave mycopy to Jag for their
perusal.Depending on the ethos of the 2007 Congress, the CFU could probably
decideif it is happy with the progress it has made in the last seven years
withagriculture and its membership.If CFU is indeed well pleased with
its seven year plan, I think it would bejolly good for them to appoint
Robert Mugabe and Gideon Gono as CFUTrustees.Mr. Mugabe, amongst other
jobs, is patron of Cricket Zimbabwe and has done awonderful job there as we
all know.Mr. Gono on the other hand, has had immense fiscal experience and
has donewonders with the Zimbabwean economy.But most of all they are
both avid agricultural enthusiasts and experts.They both revel in their
contribution to agriculture in Zimbabwe.CFU Trusteeship could well be the
pinnacle of their
careers.

Optimist.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------All
letters published on the open Letter Forum are the views and opinions ofthe
submitters, and do not represent the official viewpoint of Justice
forAgriculture.